The Face of the Franchise

  October is always a sport fan's favorite time of the year. Why? Because it is the only time that the four major US sports, Football, Basketball, Baseball, and Hockey are in season. Baseball is in it's playoff. Hockey and Basketball are just starting, and Football in part way through its season. Being a Colorado Native, I naturally root for the Colorado teams. Yes, even when they are bad. It's a great time to be a Denver Broncos fan. It hasn't been for being a Colorado Rockies or Colorado Avalanche fan (even though the Avs are off to a 3-0-0) start this year. Now why do I bring up sports to a Christian blog that often deals with spiritual warfare? Because sports have a perfect image that illustrates how we should live as a Christian. Let me explain.

  Every sports team has one player that stands out. The Los Angeles Lakers have Kobe Bryant. The Miami Heat have Lebron James. The Denver Broncos have John Elway. The New York Yankees have Derek Jeter. The Colorado Rockies had Todd Helton (he retired a couple weeks ago). These players are known as the "Face of the Franchise". When you see their face on the sports headlines, you think of the franchise they play for. When you see Kobe's face, you immediately get a picture of the LA Lakers basketball team and a team that is perpetually in the NBA title mix (last year being an oddity). And in everything that Kobe does, on the court or off the court, it paints a picture of what the LA Lakers as a professional basketball team are like.

  In Denver, after John Elway retired from football after winning back to back Superbowls, he started a car dealership and ran several throughout Denver. Even though he was no longer playing the sport, his face is forever cemented as the face of the Denver Broncos. Even though it was not a football related topic, what Elway has done has always pointed to the Denver Broncos organization. For good or bad. There have been some bad things that famous players have done. Kobe Bryant was caught in a scandal in a hotel in Colorado. Being the face of the franchise, everything he did was indicative of the LA Lakers organization, even though his actions had nothing to do with them.

  The list goes beyond just sports. We had Steve Jobs as the face of the franchise of Apple. We have Bill Gates as the face of Microsoft. Mark Zuckerberg is the face of Facebook. Ken Ham is the face of Answers in Genesis. George Lucas is the face of Star Wars. Barak Obama right now is the face of the US. The list goes on. But here is the heart of the issue. As Christians, we are the face of the Kingdom of God.

  Paul describes us as the body of Christ. We are ambassadors to this world. We represent Jesus Christ. Everything we say and do is indicative of who Jesus is and what Jesus does. We love to say that when God looks at us and our shortcomings, he sees Jesus instead of us because we are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. But we need to understand that when the world looks at us, they see the same thing. They see our representation of Jesus and think "this is what your God is like". And most of us are doing a poor job. Romans 7 tells us that as a Christian when we sin, it is not us who sins, it is not Christ in us who sins, but it sin in us who sins. Some use that as an excuse to sin. But do you allow a robber to kidnap you every day and force you to do things you don't want to be doing? Sin is an ENEMY. And we need to treat it like one. Everything we say and do represents Jesus Christ.

  Jesus himself asks us "Why do you call me "Lord" if you do not do as I say?" Why do we associate our names with Jesus, why do we seek to be the "face of the franchise" if we have no interest in doing what the franchise is all about? There are many out there that seek to be the "face the franchise" for the purpose of destroying that image. That is because they are spies sent in from a rival franchise. A Denver Broncos fan loves it when the Oakland Raiders lose. Likewise, an agent from the Kingdom of Darkness loves it when a Christian does a poor job. Are we going to sit back at let spies from the Kingdom of Darkness come in, claim to be part of us, and let them represent what we are, when the whole time their agenda is to sabotage what we are trying to do? If we are looking at this from a military perspective, we would think that would be foolish to let an enemy do that. But we do this too often with so-called Christians who are only with us by name, but are actually allies with our enemy.

   Who is the "Face of the Franchise" for God's Kingdom? Who will stand up and be such a person? I can think of several examples. William Carey, Charles Finney, William Booth, Amy Carmichael. Do we have such faces of the franchise today? I can't think of many who where if we were to say their name, we would think of all that Jesus Christ is. Are we known in hell? In Acts 19, we see the Seven Sons of Sceva try to be the face of Christianity. The demons replied "Jesus we know. Paul we know. But who you are?" Paul was a "Face of the Franchise". He wasn't just one of the average players in the game. He was the stand-out one. The one everyone looked for. The one everyone rooted for. And the one the opposing side wanted to stop more than anyone else. Any team opposing Lebron James and the Miami Heat are focused on stopping him. They don't care about the other players so much. They care about stopping him. Lebron is the Face of the Miami Heat. Paul was the Face of Christianity. The enemy was out to stop him more than anyone else. Are we going to rise up and be a Paul? Are we going to be a William Carey? A Charles Finney? An Amy Carmichael? I don't want to be a "Face of the Franchise" for my own glory. Because every Bible-believing Christian who lives it, knows everything we can do is only because of Christ who is in us. It is Christ who does it through it. When we really get it, we understand that it is Jesus who is the Face of the Franchise and we need to live our lives such that it is Christ living THROUGH us. It should not be Charlie Wolcott representing Jesus Christ. It should be Jesus Christ representing himself THOUGH Charlie Wolcott. I've got a long way to go. But I do believe I am heading the right direction. And if I draw the enemy's attention, bring it on. Because I serve a God who loves to specialize in the impossible. I want him to be himself through me and when that happens, I become the "Face of the Franchise" and all things are possible through HIM who gives me strength.